Tech-conference conduct not funny to all

Published 8:31 pm, Monday, September 16, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO -- The women at San Francisco's TechCrunch Disrupt conference for startups last week had every right to be angry.

First, one man onstage pretended to masturbate as part of the presentation for his app, Circle Shake. Soon after, two young men stepped on stage to announce another app, Titstare, accompanied by a slideshow with images of breasts.

And yet, while the blogosphere was afire with feminist critiques and harsh words for the presenters, many of the women who attended the conference weren't really mad. Some of them even joined in the laughter that by all accounts filled the Concourse Exhibition Center during the performances.

"It would be easier to dismiss if it hadn't been so well done. It was hilarious. As a girl, I'm like, `Oh boys.' It's a hackathon -- they've been up all night," said freelance Web designer Laura Jensen.

Not all women, of course, shared this view, but scores of them -- interviewed by The Chronicle at the conference after-parties -- were almost defensive of the men and a culture they viewed as "playful" and "boyish."

The imbroglio comes at a time when the tech industry is coming under the microscope for the way it treats women, who are woefully outnumbered by men. In Silicon Valley, women earn 49 cents for every $1 a man earns, a survey by Measure of America showed -- nationally, they make 77 cents for every $1. Women own only 8 percent of venture-backed tech startups, according to Astia, a nonprofit that works with women-led startups; nationally, they own 40 percent of private businesses, according to the Center for Women's Business Research.

The scarcity of women in the industry and at tech conferences can lead to uncomfortable moments -- and worse.

"As more females enter into a domain that's implicitly male, there's a culture clash," said TechCrunch co-editor Alexis Tsotsis, 31, who had rushed from home to the hackathon to apologize for the presentations. "Like how people joke around in a locker room, except there are now people in the room who don't find the jokes so funny. It's been something I've had to deal with on a macro level throughout my career."

The gender issues at last week's conference are by no means unique, but they're symbolic because of Disrupt's influence -- Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Marc Benioff of Salesforce all spoke. General admission was $3,000, and for many of the young entrepreneurs, this was their first real opportunity to get attention for their companies.

But if the tech world needs to revolutionize its treatment of women, there was little call to arms at Disrupt.

"I've been in this industry for so long, I don't even notice anymore," Susan Hobbs, the conference program chairwoman at TechCrunch, said of the gender gap.

The startup community prides itself on being a no-rules meritocracy with the goal of disrupting the establishment (taxis, hotels, record labels) with software. Political correctness is not always valued. Youth is prized, and risk-taking is encouraged. And, in this industry dominated by men in their early 20s, there is little guidance from older generations -- beyond the venture capitalists who pour cash into the companies.

Tsotsis and her co-editor, Eric Eldon, who were quick to call the presentations misogynist, will be making changes next year. They're going to institute a screening process and create a comprehensive anti harassment policy. Given TechCrunch's clout, both as a conference organizer and popular blog, it's likely that smaller organizations will follow.

Outside Mighty, a dance club in Potrero Hill, conference-goers waited in a long line to be checked in by TechCrunch staff for the Monday night after-party. At the coat check, they dropped hoodies and company-branded satchels. Hosted by New Relic, a software analytics company, the party had an open bar. "South Park" episodes were spliced into rap videos projected on the wall behind the band. An enormous image of a woman in a string bikini was on another wall.

On Monday and other nights, the ratio of men to women at the after-parties was staggering -- a casual estimate was around 20-to-1.

"People are here to network and get business done, maybe even more than they are at the conference," said Jorie Westley, a 25-year-old who lives in Cole Valley and minored in women's studies at Cal State Chico. She was surprised to see the party even more male-dominated than the daytime conference had been. "I had an idea it might be like this, but this is way, way more skewed. A lot of women must have stayed home."

Laurel Kuzins, a 23-year-old executive assistant at a company called Docstoc, felt a professional obligation to be at the conference and the parties.

"Titstare? People are desensitized, which doesn't make it OK. But it makes it, you know," she said. "You wait all year to come to this and to show people what you've been doing -- this is it."

Ngan Pham, a 26-year-old who works for a company called Plinky, found that most of the card swapping at the after-parties happened around her. "It's a club scene, but they're all here looking for other guys. The men don't give us any trouble -- they just ignore us."

One young man had an urgent observation for Paul Jackson, who works for a company called Trail.

"He pulled me aside and was like, `Your CEO and COO are women!'" Jackson said, while squeezing into a booth. "I was like, `Yeah, I've noticed.'"

Trail co-founder Stephanie Margossian, drinking wine around midnight, shook her head -- "You just have to go with it."

But a homogenous group that eschews outside voices runs the risk of irrelevance, said Brent Bovenzi , a 20-year-old who came to the conference from Maryland. He said that many of the startups are just solving redundant problems that only touch a small segment of the world. (How many music-sharing services do people need?)

"If we bring in greater diversity, instead of solving white upper-middle- class problems, we would solve bigger issues and have a wider impact. We shouldn't do tech for tech's sake," he said. "Diversity would change what all the startups are doing. It would help the work here become relevant."

Candace Locklear, a partner at Mighty PR, sat at the bar with a female friend. An industry veteran, Locklear said she was resigned to the gender dynamics.

"I'm just weary as f--. Inured to it all," she said. "But if you make a big deal about being a woman, get all dressed up and call attention to yourself, it cheapens the brand of female."

By the door, one man, spilling his drink, leaned over and interjected.

"Are you writing about the guy-to-girl ratio? Women should feel privileged to be here! They are the lucky!" he said. "No, just kidding."